Let m start off by saying that we're incredibly tired. We took off from St. George, Utah at 5:00am and arrived in Tijuana at about 5pm. It's now 7:20 and we're just having some burgers at a fellow missionaries house (with internet access...).
The place we are staying deserve pictures to describe it, otherwise I'd never finish this posting. Let me just say it's on a hill, there are no trees, we're in a small motor home until the trailer gets fixed- and it has an outhouse with a real flush toilet about 3 feet from the motorhome.
Have you ever gone through all your stuff and sold or gave away the vast majority of it, pack it into a tent trailer that breaks and then repack it into a uhaul and drive 3000km away through 3 countries only to get at your final destination and see that you have way way way too much stuff? Me too... :) We have very little room for storage in the motorhome so are brainstorimg to see what to do with it al until we find a place of our own. too many clothes...too many toys... too much of most of everyhting!
The place we're staying is a little away from stuff and we have to drive some of the most interesting roads to get anywhere. Pray for our vehicle!
gotta go eat. I'll come back and give more info-hopefully with pics soon.
blessings,
Mike
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Day 4 Pocatello to St. George Utah
Short one today...
As we came down the mountian from 6500 feet ASL to 2000 into St. George, the temperature rose from 86F to 99F. So as soon as we checked in, we went for a swim in the outdoor pool. From there we had amazing Mexican food and now off to bed.
Most eventful things to hapen today:
1. Blew out the back window of the Van- not sure how, but we needed to pull over on I-15 and take out the broken glass. Kids enjoyed the semi-jeep feeling of air rshing through the back of your hair for th enext hour till we got to the Walmart. Didn't even know there was a walmart at that intersection I just got a strong feeling I should turn in- so I did and a block or 2 down was a walmart supercentre.
2. Kids first experience at a walmart Supercenter- this thign is HUGE! complete with a pedicure/ manicure place, a small arcade, a full grocery store and a massive toy section. They had birthday and garage sale money to spend on some toys- so they found an abundance of the exact thing they were looking for- to their delight! we bought duck tape and plastic for our new rear window. Van'll really fit into Mexico now!
3. almot 100F heat in st. George, Utah. even now at 10pm a tnight it's 91. It was wild coming out of an air conditioned restauraunt at 9pm into the night and have the stifling heat come at you. Boys were excited.
4. the lizards. The boys found 2 lizards on the short walk to the restaruaunt. thought that was great!
Tomorrow we leave at 5:45am to reach San Diego by noon-1pm. This way we avoid las vegas rush hour and the heat of the midday desert.
Until we get internet access,
Buenos Noches Y Dios Bendiga
Good night and God bless!
As we came down the mountian from 6500 feet ASL to 2000 into St. George, the temperature rose from 86F to 99F. So as soon as we checked in, we went for a swim in the outdoor pool. From there we had amazing Mexican food and now off to bed.
Most eventful things to hapen today:
1. Blew out the back window of the Van- not sure how, but we needed to pull over on I-15 and take out the broken glass. Kids enjoyed the semi-jeep feeling of air rshing through the back of your hair for th enext hour till we got to the Walmart. Didn't even know there was a walmart at that intersection I just got a strong feeling I should turn in- so I did and a block or 2 down was a walmart supercentre.
2. Kids first experience at a walmart Supercenter- this thign is HUGE! complete with a pedicure/ manicure place, a small arcade, a full grocery store and a massive toy section. They had birthday and garage sale money to spend on some toys- so they found an abundance of the exact thing they were looking for- to their delight! we bought duck tape and plastic for our new rear window. Van'll really fit into Mexico now!
3. almot 100F heat in st. George, Utah. even now at 10pm a tnight it's 91. It was wild coming out of an air conditioned restauraunt at 9pm into the night and have the stifling heat come at you. Boys were excited.
4. the lizards. The boys found 2 lizards on the short walk to the restaruaunt. thought that was great!
Tomorrow we leave at 5:45am to reach San Diego by noon-1pm. This way we avoid las vegas rush hour and the heat of the midday desert.
Until we get internet access,
Buenos Noches Y Dios Bendiga
Good night and God bless!
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Day 3 Havre to Pocatello
The Havre morning was a balmy 20C at 8am when we left the hotel for the next leg of the journey. We travelled south west in the slow lane. It seems that with a large abundance of household goods stored in a trailer, our van gets a little upset at the idea of going faster than 100km/h - espescially around hills. If we do exceed that vehicle-induced speed limit, the van seems to gobble gas as if it were food in a vanload of 3 boys on a long trip.
Finally, about 1/3 of the way through the trip while going uphill in Montana ( Montana is almost all uphill...) I passed my first vehicle. I finally felt manly again as I breezed by this little imported sedan shaking up the hill. Until, that is, I looked over to see an absolutley terrified 90+ year old lady with knuckes as white as my hair.
I scared gramma...
The rest of the trip we stayed pretty close to the slow lane being passed by 65 year old ladies driving 35 foot RV's carrying boats AND cars on trailers. Manly no more, we pressed on.
We have brought our boy-cat, Rosie with us to Mexico. All the stuff we got rid of and on the last day found a home for Rosie until the boys found out and became VERY upset... as if to say- you can move me away from friends, you can sell or give away my toys, you can force me to learn a foriegn language, but PLEASE... let us have our cat!
While I'm generally not a softy, it takes alot to get my boys this upset emotionally, so we took the hint and... the cat.
Rosie has settled in nicely to Gypsy-life. He sleeps most of the day in the car. When he wakes up, it enerally is to go test out someone elses lap for a while. Lap to Lap he goes, sleeping the day away. Then one he gets into the hotel room he promptly finds the softest pillow on the softest bed and... sleeps. he will wake up for short periods of time to eat, but not much. At first I thought maybe he was stressed, so wasn't eating much. But, as Shar pointed out, realistically how much food does someone need to muster up enough energy to sleep for 22 hours a day. If he doesn't get up to eat, he can sleep for 23 hours!
I think he is personally in a semi-comatose state and will hopefully come out of it in Mexico.
Tomorrow we try to make it to the northern fringe of the Mojave desert, St. George Utah. It'll be 100F or 38C there tomorrow night as get ready for our final day of driving.
Thanks for praying for us. Often the toughest part of a trip like this one is the relationships as we stress and strain through the close proximity and lack of energy-releasing activities. But God has been gracious and we're all doing good in that area... so far.
The van is running well and the trailer tires are holding up.
Until next time,
Blessings,
Mike and Shar.
Thanks for those who have commented- the more the better- it lets me know it's worth writing this stuff!!
MM
Finally, about 1/3 of the way through the trip while going uphill in Montana ( Montana is almost all uphill...) I passed my first vehicle. I finally felt manly again as I breezed by this little imported sedan shaking up the hill. Until, that is, I looked over to see an absolutley terrified 90+ year old lady with knuckes as white as my hair.
I scared gramma...
The rest of the trip we stayed pretty close to the slow lane being passed by 65 year old ladies driving 35 foot RV's carrying boats AND cars on trailers. Manly no more, we pressed on.
We have brought our boy-cat, Rosie with us to Mexico. All the stuff we got rid of and on the last day found a home for Rosie until the boys found out and became VERY upset... as if to say- you can move me away from friends, you can sell or give away my toys, you can force me to learn a foriegn language, but PLEASE... let us have our cat!
While I'm generally not a softy, it takes alot to get my boys this upset emotionally, so we took the hint and... the cat.
Rosie has settled in nicely to Gypsy-life. He sleeps most of the day in the car. When he wakes up, it enerally is to go test out someone elses lap for a while. Lap to Lap he goes, sleeping the day away. Then one he gets into the hotel room he promptly finds the softest pillow on the softest bed and... sleeps. he will wake up for short periods of time to eat, but not much. At first I thought maybe he was stressed, so wasn't eating much. But, as Shar pointed out, realistically how much food does someone need to muster up enough energy to sleep for 22 hours a day. If he doesn't get up to eat, he can sleep for 23 hours!
I think he is personally in a semi-comatose state and will hopefully come out of it in Mexico.
Tomorrow we try to make it to the northern fringe of the Mojave desert, St. George Utah. It'll be 100F or 38C there tomorrow night as get ready for our final day of driving.
Thanks for praying for us. Often the toughest part of a trip like this one is the relationships as we stress and strain through the close proximity and lack of energy-releasing activities. But God has been gracious and we're all doing good in that area... so far.
The van is running well and the trailer tires are holding up.
Until next time,
Blessings,
Mike and Shar.
Thanks for those who have commented- the more the better- it lets me know it's worth writing this stuff!!
MM
Day 2- Saskatoon to Havre Montana
I was able to get a Uhaul trailer and someone to come out and help us transfer our stuff from the tent trailer to the Uhaul. Praise God! A friend, Wes Long, even agreed to come out and get the old tent trailer for us. I'm not sure if he will scrap it, or keep it or what He'll do, but I strongly suggest he not put a ton of household goods into it unless he plans on going less that 27 km with it!
We were finally off at noon. The drive was quite uneventful for most of the trip. For those of you following with a map (ok...maybe noone else would do that... I love maps...) We travelled out of Saskatoon on Hwy 7 until we crossed Hwy 4. Both were pretty good roads until we reach Swift Current. Somewhere south of Swift current the road changes into an antelope trail- complete with live antelopes on the road! We saw more prairie antelopes today then ever!. The trail eventually takes us through sizeable pot holes ( which likely act as duck ponds in the spring ) and around through massive fields of grass. miles and miles of treeless prairie grass!
Then we hit the border. Interesting place, borders. I'm not sure what one has to do wrong, or right, to get posted at a border post that sees more migrating antelope and prairie dogs than people, but whatever it was... Mr. Fish did it.
Mr. Fish asked us what we were doing and where we were going. But didn't seem to like the Answer "Moving to Mexico". His logical and reasonable question was "How do I know you are not moving into the states?"
Good Question, Mr. Fish...
Do you have any papers proving that you are going to mexico.
Thankfully, my wit was tempered by my "antelope in the headlights" attitude and I did NOT answer him in the standard reply... " Papers... I don't need no stinking papers!" with a Mexican Accent ( Bandito was handily subdued here!).
So I simply answered Him with a blank stare... So he asked, is there anyone I can call to verify that this is true? So in we went to call our YUGO office in Canada and the US to see if I really was supposed to be moving to Mexico.
Thankfully they gave him the right answer and Mr. Fish let us go. His companion checked out our uhaul, gave one look at it and said... "I don't really wanna take all that stuff out- so if you could help me close the door..." So I did and off we went.
Finally into the USA.
about 20minutes into the USA my gas calculations worked out perfectly to allow us to get a nice full (really full!) tank of cheapish US gas as soon as we crossed the border! Loring Montana was supposed to provide us with that.
Loring Montana has a bar, a post office, a grocery store, a mechanics shop and 6 people who call it home. Notice I said nothing about a gas station.
My beaming gas light shone brighter in my face as we came down the hill to see that this postage stamp size community certainly had no gas station. I spoke to the local mechanic/ Gas shark and purchased 2.5 gallons of gas for $15.00 /Canadian (thankfully he took Canadian, because, beleive it or not - there was no currency exchange depot here!) For the record, I was so thankful to get the gas I was ok with the stated price, though I do beleive that the town could use another gas shark so that competition could keep the prices down.
From there we wound through some beautiful country to Havre Montana for anights rest. We are thankful for safety, for gas when we needed it, for a relatively smooth border crossing and still, the eveidence of God's grace and provision.
Day 3 will be hopefully be from Havre Montana to Pocatelloe Idaho.
Blessings,
Until next time,
Mike
We were finally off at noon. The drive was quite uneventful for most of the trip. For those of you following with a map (ok...maybe noone else would do that... I love maps...) We travelled out of Saskatoon on Hwy 7 until we crossed Hwy 4. Both were pretty good roads until we reach Swift Current. Somewhere south of Swift current the road changes into an antelope trail- complete with live antelopes on the road! We saw more prairie antelopes today then ever!. The trail eventually takes us through sizeable pot holes ( which likely act as duck ponds in the spring ) and around through massive fields of grass. miles and miles of treeless prairie grass!
Then we hit the border. Interesting place, borders. I'm not sure what one has to do wrong, or right, to get posted at a border post that sees more migrating antelope and prairie dogs than people, but whatever it was... Mr. Fish did it.
Mr. Fish asked us what we were doing and where we were going. But didn't seem to like the Answer "Moving to Mexico". His logical and reasonable question was "How do I know you are not moving into the states?"
Good Question, Mr. Fish...
Do you have any papers proving that you are going to mexico.
Thankfully, my wit was tempered by my "antelope in the headlights" attitude and I did NOT answer him in the standard reply... " Papers... I don't need no stinking papers!" with a Mexican Accent ( Bandito was handily subdued here!).
So I simply answered Him with a blank stare... So he asked, is there anyone I can call to verify that this is true? So in we went to call our YUGO office in Canada and the US to see if I really was supposed to be moving to Mexico.
Thankfully they gave him the right answer and Mr. Fish let us go. His companion checked out our uhaul, gave one look at it and said... "I don't really wanna take all that stuff out- so if you could help me close the door..." So I did and off we went.
Finally into the USA.
about 20minutes into the USA my gas calculations worked out perfectly to allow us to get a nice full (really full!) tank of cheapish US gas as soon as we crossed the border! Loring Montana was supposed to provide us with that.
Loring Montana has a bar, a post office, a grocery store, a mechanics shop and 6 people who call it home. Notice I said nothing about a gas station.
My beaming gas light shone brighter in my face as we came down the hill to see that this postage stamp size community certainly had no gas station. I spoke to the local mechanic/ Gas shark and purchased 2.5 gallons of gas for $15.00 /Canadian (thankfully he took Canadian, because, beleive it or not - there was no currency exchange depot here!) For the record, I was so thankful to get the gas I was ok with the stated price, though I do beleive that the town could use another gas shark so that competition could keep the prices down.
From there we wound through some beautiful country to Havre Montana for anights rest. We are thankful for safety, for gas when we needed it, for a relatively smooth border crossing and still, the eveidence of God's grace and provision.
Day 3 will be hopefully be from Havre Montana to Pocatelloe Idaho.
Blessings,
Until next time,
Mike
Sunday, August 27, 2006
At this rate... we'll be there by December!
G'devening...
What a day.
We had an interesting night last night. Almost all of our stuff was moved out by 8pm... including all of our beds and air mattresses. The boys slept together on the floor upstairs, while Shar and I shared the couch (new renters couch...) and she rotated to the floor on occasion. It was not a nigh characterised by restfulness!
This morning found the boys and I in church as I gave one last shot with Bandido Vaquero Miguel ( my VBS character- I was the MC...) I'll post some pics later when we're in Mexico- I can't find the USB cord for the camera... That went well and then off to finish packing.
By the time we got the cartop carrier- the bike rack and the trailer hooked on, I was driving with about 3 inches clearance from the towball to the ground. With the ducktape firmly in place on the trailer, we proceeded to venture off into the relatively unknown.
About 25km into the Journey- just outside saskatoon, the tire on the trailer BLEW! brand new tire... so we know that the trailer is too heavy for the tires. We have pics of that too!!
After all was said and done it was 4:30pm, our trailer now had a 10-20 year old cracked replacement tire on it- which didn't matter- even new 6 ply tires weren't good enough- we proceeded to the nearest Motel 6 where we gathered ourselves, swam in the pool and strategised for tomorrw. It changes our plans considerably, but that's ok. "The Lord Directs (our) paths."
Tomorrow we get a uhaul trailer and sell the 40 year old trailer (for scrap?)
By the time we get a new trailer, ditch the old one and tranfer the stuff, we hope to make a break for the border and be in Havre, Montana tomorrow night.
Y'know what the really amazing part is?
Today as I'm leaving church, a lady we've met maybe twice come sup to us and hands me a check for $500.00.
The cost of a Uhaul trailer and an unexpected nights stay at a motel?
$494.58
Jehovah Jireh- Our provider....!!!
God is always good- all the time!
Thanks for reading,
Leave a comment!!
Mike, Shar and boys...
What a day.
We had an interesting night last night. Almost all of our stuff was moved out by 8pm... including all of our beds and air mattresses. The boys slept together on the floor upstairs, while Shar and I shared the couch (new renters couch...) and she rotated to the floor on occasion. It was not a nigh characterised by restfulness!
This morning found the boys and I in church as I gave one last shot with Bandido Vaquero Miguel ( my VBS character- I was the MC...) I'll post some pics later when we're in Mexico- I can't find the USB cord for the camera... That went well and then off to finish packing.
By the time we got the cartop carrier- the bike rack and the trailer hooked on, I was driving with about 3 inches clearance from the towball to the ground. With the ducktape firmly in place on the trailer, we proceeded to venture off into the relatively unknown.
About 25km into the Journey- just outside saskatoon, the tire on the trailer BLEW! brand new tire... so we know that the trailer is too heavy for the tires. We have pics of that too!!
After all was said and done it was 4:30pm, our trailer now had a 10-20 year old cracked replacement tire on it- which didn't matter- even new 6 ply tires weren't good enough- we proceeded to the nearest Motel 6 where we gathered ourselves, swam in the pool and strategised for tomorrw. It changes our plans considerably, but that's ok. "The Lord Directs (our) paths."
Tomorrow we get a uhaul trailer and sell the 40 year old trailer (for scrap?)
By the time we get a new trailer, ditch the old one and tranfer the stuff, we hope to make a break for the border and be in Havre, Montana tomorrow night.
Y'know what the really amazing part is?
Today as I'm leaving church, a lady we've met maybe twice come sup to us and hands me a check for $500.00.
The cost of a Uhaul trailer and an unexpected nights stay at a motel?
$494.58
Jehovah Jireh- Our provider....!!!
God is always good- all the time!
Thanks for reading,
Leave a comment!!
Mike, Shar and boys...
Last Night in Langham
Here I am sitting in the corner of our living room, on the floor, tapping the keys of the laptop. The house is really empty, except for a few empty boxes, the couch the people moving in here next have already brought in and the last minute things you can’t really do much with until, well, the last minute.
Tomorrow I’m taking the boys to church while Shar finishes the cleanup process and packs the last few boxes- and then… off to
We started off selling our stuff, but a lot of it is 2nd hand to us, so that did not cause a lot to go, so then we began to give it away. It went a bit quicker then! All of us have had things that it has been particularly tough to part with. But with a 10 foot tent trailer, you can’t take much.
Today for Shar it was a walnut 4 drawer dresser that was quite old and in good shape. She refinished it herself with a friend in Highschool- more than 15 years ago. We had planned on taking it, but after packing most of our stuff, we realized that there just was not enough room.
For me today it was a computer (Surprise!). I built it myself out of parts I have collected over the years, upgrading it every now an then you make a pretty decent machine out of a mixture of new and discarded parts. It’s been a part of a hobby of mine to fix it, break it again and then fix it again. We had no room for it either and so I left it here for someone to sell for me.
Now with all of my families remaining worldly possessions packed into a 10’X6’X2’ trailer and what can be stuffed into a cartop carrier and the inside of a grand voyageur, I’m reminded of a few sermons I’ve preached where I have emphatically stated- “life is not about the stuff we own!” Sure hope I’m right!!
Now we’re off to a 5 day adventure crossing 3 nations, through 8 states and provinces, over 3200km to a new life and a new mission. As much as I can, I’ll keep you up to date on this blog during the trip- and once we arrive in Mexico, internet access will be hit and miss for the first little while- but we’ll update as often as possible.
Thanks for
Until next time,
mike
Sunday, August 20, 2006
As the Father has sent me, so I send you...
Commissioning ServiceMartensville Baptist Church
August 20, 2006
We had a great day today as Pastor Harv Sawatsky and the Martensville Baptist Church commisioned us and officially sent us out as their missionaries to Mexico. We have really appreciated the way the church has taken us in and loved us this past 8 months we've been here.
We're looking forward to coming back and sharing with them all that God is doing through us and through our partnership with Martensville Baptist and all of you who consider yourselves a part of this ministry- whether through prayer and/ or financial support!!
I had the opportunity to bring the message today. It was the last chance I'll get to share with them for a while. I spoke on the importance of partnership in the Gospel. Perhaps in the next couple of days I'll get a chance to publish a form of that message here. I am convinced of the fact that this ministry is not our families ministry, but an extension of all of our partners calling to reach the ends of the earth with the Gospel. This cannot be done without all of us being involved!
WE VALUE YOUR PARTNERSHIP HIGHLY!!! THANK YOU!!
The next week will be bringing us alot of busy-ness along with some decisions to make. Could you pray with us as we pack, clean and purge our worldly goods down to an amount that can be easily moved in our 10 foot gutted out tent trailer!
Thanks again for your willingness to go with us on this journey! God bless and keep you!
Blessings,
Mike and Sharlene and boys
www.mcmexicomission.blogspot.com
pastrbuzz@yahoo.ca
godchick5@yahoo.ca
Thursday, August 17, 2006
IT'S OFFICIAL! WE'RE ON OUR WAY TO MEXICO!!!
August 16th, 2006
The official deadline to have an adequate amount of support raised passed yesterday. And although we did not reach the magic number of $1800 ( we are short by about $200.00 in signed committment cards), there came upon us an opportunity to "Camp" for a few months until we have an idea how much we will average each month. There is a family who are friends of YUGO who are building a house in Tijuana about 1 mile from the Grace Children's Home- where Shar and the kids would like to help out, and 1 mile from the community of porticos where we will be helping to plant a church. We will be residing in a 29 foot camper (5th wheel type...) for a while. It has a water cistern on the property and a septic tank to hook the trailer up to and we'll have a generator to provide us with electricity- as there currently is none at the property! There is also an internet satellite dish on the property so we can get online and with that maybe get a US and Canadian phone to keep in contact with friends and family back home.
Thank you so much for your prayers and your partnership with us! It is because of you that we are able to go make disciples in Mexico!
Please continue to pray for us as we finish off our last minute details in Sasakatchewan and prepare to move south.
We have been in the process of packing and "culling" our worldly goods to fit into a gutted out 10foot camper trailer to move what we need to mexico. It is a tricky thing to decide what's really important and what can go. Lots of stuff we may leave behind we'll eventually need to replace when we find a place of our our own in Tijuana.
Pray for the good working of our van and trailer as we travel down. Thanks to your gifts we were able to get some work done on the van to make it driveable and safe! We also put new tires on the trailer to replace ones that were probably 10 years old and a wee bit weathered!
We have also had our first round of immunization shots ( Hepatitis) and will have our second on the friday before we leave. We'll need a third round in 6-12 months as well.
DEPUTATION
While we have reached about 60% of our support which enables us to go to Mexico, it does not enable us to stay!
In order for us to be able to stay long term in Mexico we will need to raise an additional $1000.00/ month to pay for housing, health insurance and regular deputation to Canada as well as local ministry expenses. Could you please continue to pray that God would meet our needs when they come up? THANK YOU!
I (Mike) will be back in Canada sharing the vision for Mexico in Ontario from October 11-24th 2006. I am hoping to spend time in churches and with supporters and hopefully meet new people with whom to share the vision.
I'm also in Saskatchewan from October 31- November 15th doing much of the same thing. Please pray that I'll find the people God is calling to partner with us and that they will be receptive to the vision to make disciples in Mexico.
We would also appreciate prayer for ourselves as we pack, have garage sales, try to sell our stuff and drive. It will be an intense week and a half from now until the 27th when we go. Pray for our own relationships as a family- they can often gat a little stressed during times like these. Pray also for us as we adjust to life in Mexico. Although we've loved our short-term trips to Mexico, living there will be another boat altogther and we need extensive grace to make the needed adjustments!
Thank you for your partnership with us! You are a valuable part of this ministry and it could not be accomplished without you! We appreciate you and if there is any way we can pray for you, please feel free to communicate that with us!!
We may be out of touch at first in Mexico until we get phone and internet connections, but will update you as soon as possible on new addresses, phone numbers etc.
God bless and keep you!
Blessings,
Mike, Shar and boys.
The official deadline to have an adequate amount of support raised passed yesterday. And although we did not reach the magic number of $1800 ( we are short by about $200.00 in signed committment cards), there came upon us an opportunity to "Camp" for a few months until we have an idea how much we will average each month. There is a family who are friends of YUGO who are building a house in Tijuana about 1 mile from the Grace Children's Home- where Shar and the kids would like to help out, and 1 mile from the community of porticos where we will be helping to plant a church. We will be residing in a 29 foot camper (5th wheel type...) for a while. It has a water cistern on the property and a septic tank to hook the trailer up to and we'll have a generator to provide us with electricity- as there currently is none at the property! There is also an internet satellite dish on the property so we can get online and with that maybe get a US and Canadian phone to keep in contact with friends and family back home.
Thank you so much for your prayers and your partnership with us! It is because of you that we are able to go make disciples in Mexico!
Please continue to pray for us as we finish off our last minute details in Sasakatchewan and prepare to move south.
We have been in the process of packing and "culling" our worldly goods to fit into a gutted out 10foot camper trailer to move what we need to mexico. It is a tricky thing to decide what's really important and what can go. Lots of stuff we may leave behind we'll eventually need to replace when we find a place of our our own in Tijuana.
Pray for the good working of our van and trailer as we travel down. Thanks to your gifts we were able to get some work done on the van to make it driveable and safe! We also put new tires on the trailer to replace ones that were probably 10 years old and a wee bit weathered!
We have also had our first round of immunization shots ( Hepatitis) and will have our second on the friday before we leave. We'll need a third round in 6-12 months as well.
DEPUTATION
While we have reached about 60% of our support which enables us to go to Mexico, it does not enable us to stay!
In order for us to be able to stay long term in Mexico we will need to raise an additional $1000.00/ month to pay for housing, health insurance and regular deputation to Canada as well as local ministry expenses. Could you please continue to pray that God would meet our needs when they come up? THANK YOU!
I (Mike) will be back in Canada sharing the vision for Mexico in Ontario from October 11-24th 2006. I am hoping to spend time in churches and with supporters and hopefully meet new people with whom to share the vision.
I'm also in Saskatchewan from October 31- November 15th doing much of the same thing. Please pray that I'll find the people God is calling to partner with us and that they will be receptive to the vision to make disciples in Mexico.
We would also appreciate prayer for ourselves as we pack, have garage sales, try to sell our stuff and drive. It will be an intense week and a half from now until the 27th when we go. Pray for our own relationships as a family- they can often gat a little stressed during times like these. Pray also for us as we adjust to life in Mexico. Although we've loved our short-term trips to Mexico, living there will be another boat altogther and we need extensive grace to make the needed adjustments!
Thank you for your partnership with us! You are a valuable part of this ministry and it could not be accomplished without you! We appreciate you and if there is any way we can pray for you, please feel free to communicate that with us!!
We may be out of touch at first in Mexico until we get phone and internet connections, but will update you as soon as possible on new addresses, phone numbers etc.
God bless and keep you!
Blessings,
Mike, Shar and boys.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Summer's Report
Hello Again!
I trust your summer is going well and you've been enjoying the weather. It has been a couple of years since we had a real summer in Saskatchewan, so this one has been nice- Very Nice!
We spent 2 weeks speaking in Bible Camps. I ( Mike) was particularly nervous about this because, although I've directed lots of kids camps, I'd not been speaker to the little guys ( 7-12 year olds). It was quite a challenge coming up with material, but God was very faithful and often just a few minutes before speaking I would have another idea on how to present something. It seemed to be well received by the kids, and God was active in hearts too. At Silver Birch we saw 13 kids make decisions for Jesus- 6 of them for the first time. At Timber Bay we saw 11 decisions to turn away from sin and follow Jesus- all for the first time.
I spoke on the severity of sin and it's repercussions and the need to turn away from it to follow Jesus. We shared about the Old Testament sacrifice system and then the perfect sacrifice of Jesus to take away the sins of the world. I also challenged them to count the cost of following Jesus- it's not an easy-breezy life- it is literally warfare. I could see some wanting to follow, but unwilling to count the cost. We'll continue to pray for those guys and girls as they consider Him this year.
It was once again brought forward to me in a realistic way the need for missionaries in our own Native Communities- as many of the kids in Timber Bay were going home to no church and no missionaries to encourage them- and very few true believers in their village. Pray that those who have decided to follow Jesus would remain strong! Maybe some day we can bring a team of Mexican believers up to see the need and perhaps God will call them to be missionaries to Canada!
As of today we have 1 week left to have our support levels raised to adequate levels to move to Mexico. we are still short about $400.00 in monthly committments- though we have regularly received that amount aside from signed committment cards.
As of today we have signed committments of $1445.00 / month. We are needing $1800.00 to go on the field right away and will need $2650.00 by February to pay additional Health Insurance and Ministry Expenses.
Would pray that God would supply our needs? Would you also ask if God is asking you to partner with us to reach Mexicans with the Gospel of Jesus, to make disciples who make disciples?
Thankf for your prayers and your partnership!
God Bless-
Mike and Sharlene
I trust your summer is going well and you've been enjoying the weather. It has been a couple of years since we had a real summer in Saskatchewan, so this one has been nice- Very Nice!
We spent 2 weeks speaking in Bible Camps. I ( Mike) was particularly nervous about this because, although I've directed lots of kids camps, I'd not been speaker to the little guys ( 7-12 year olds). It was quite a challenge coming up with material, but God was very faithful and often just a few minutes before speaking I would have another idea on how to present something. It seemed to be well received by the kids, and God was active in hearts too. At Silver Birch we saw 13 kids make decisions for Jesus- 6 of them for the first time. At Timber Bay we saw 11 decisions to turn away from sin and follow Jesus- all for the first time.
I spoke on the severity of sin and it's repercussions and the need to turn away from it to follow Jesus. We shared about the Old Testament sacrifice system and then the perfect sacrifice of Jesus to take away the sins of the world. I also challenged them to count the cost of following Jesus- it's not an easy-breezy life- it is literally warfare. I could see some wanting to follow, but unwilling to count the cost. We'll continue to pray for those guys and girls as they consider Him this year.
It was once again brought forward to me in a realistic way the need for missionaries in our own Native Communities- as many of the kids in Timber Bay were going home to no church and no missionaries to encourage them- and very few true believers in their village. Pray that those who have decided to follow Jesus would remain strong! Maybe some day we can bring a team of Mexican believers up to see the need and perhaps God will call them to be missionaries to Canada!
As of today we have 1 week left to have our support levels raised to adequate levels to move to Mexico. we are still short about $400.00 in monthly committments- though we have regularly received that amount aside from signed committment cards.
As of today we have signed committments of $1445.00 / month. We are needing $1800.00 to go on the field right away and will need $2650.00 by February to pay additional Health Insurance and Ministry Expenses.
Would pray that God would supply our needs? Would you also ask if God is asking you to partner with us to reach Mexicans with the Gospel of Jesus, to make disciples who make disciples?
Thankf for your prayers and your partnership!
God Bless-
Mike and Sharlene
June / July Prayer Letter
McDonald’ s Mexican Newsletter
June 2006
2 months to go….
Our time in Saskatchewan is wrapping up fast. 2 more days and the kids are out of school! After that we will camp for a little while as a family, then Mike takes the kids to speak at Bible Camps for 2 weeks and Sharlene will continue working her 3 casual jobs. In August we pack…
We’ve really enjoyed living in Langham and being a part of the Martensville Baptist Church (when we haven’t been sharing the vision elsewhere!!) but our time to go is coming close and we are feeling the crunch. After Bible camps speaking I have a church or two to speak at, some visiting to do and then, Lord willing, we’ll be packed and on our way on August 28th to Tijuana for Language Training!
Thank you!
Thanks to all who have been praying for us this last little while! I sent out an email prayer request a couple of weeks ago regarding a possibility of being involved in a short-term interim pastorate position. As you prayed with us, we sensed God saying that although this was a good opportunity to minister, my motivation for pursuing it was related to not trusting God to take care of our needs! I kept getting the impression that God was asking us if we really believe Him when he tells us not to worry about our needs- that He will provide them.
Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
You know, it even sounds crazy to us, but I’m convinced that He is Jehovah Jireh- the God who provides and that He is trustworthy. Missionary life is one of trust, I’m hoping that Jesus is building more faith in us! Whatever Happens- May Jesus Christ be praised!!
All that to say, yes, Lord Willing, we are planning on going to Tijuana in August! Our YUGO Canada Board has agreed to let us go without full support raised and they have attached a letter to this one explaining all that they require to send us out to the field. Please pray that these requirements will be met!
Where are we in our Financial Support?
Monthly Amount Required: 100%-- $2650.00 / Month
Minimum Amount required: 75% -- $2000.00 / Month
Current Average support : 42% -- $1100.00/ Month
Goal for August 15th: Increase of $900.00/ Month
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Thank you for your partnership in this ministry!
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Prayer Requests / Praise items
PRAISE:
Increase in support! Praise God!
Sharlene has lots of shifts over summer!
Boys are getting excited about the move, homeschooling and making new friends.
Opportunities to share the vision and a good response from folks!
God’s faithfulness!
PRAYER:
Sharlene has had a bad hip for some time, please pray that the Doctor’s would have wisdom as to what to do with it and when.
Mike is speaking at 2 kid’s camps and several churches this summer, please pray that people would be sensitive to God’s Word!
Friends in Tijuana are searching for a house for us.
Pray for continued increasing support!
Pray that we would have faith and wisdom!
Thank you so much for your partnership with us! We look forward to sharing with you How God is using all of us together to influence lives for the Kingdom! Please feel free to write or call- we’d love to hear from you!!
McDonald Family
Box 678, Langham, SK. S0K 2L0
(306) 283-4696
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